Not many of the 14 dances included in the Smith Quartet's Dance are likely to make you get up and break into familiar steps, but they are an attractive assortment of short contemporary pieces with a dance-like energy. Although the majority of the composers represented are British, there's a healthy representation of multinationals, including Chinese-American (Tan Dun), Australian-Russian (Elena Kats-Chernin), English-West African (Tunde Jegede), and South African-Irish (Kevin Volans). The composers' diversity is reflective of the diversity of the pieces. Some bear no relationship to particular dance forms (Jegede's Dancing in the Spirit, Graham Fitkin's Informal Dance, Tan Dun's Black Dance), and some are based on traditional or modern Western dances (Andrew Poppy's Definitely Disco, Michael Finnissy's Minuet, Michael Nyman's Tango, Kats-Chernin's Naïve Waltz, and a jig, Django Bates' Peculiar Terms of Physical Intimacy). Several are based on medieval or Renaissance forms (John Adams' Pavane: She's so Fine, Jon Lord's Zarabanda Solitaria, Donnacha Dennehy's Stamp [To Avoid Erotic Thoughts] based on a saltarello) and some are derived from non-Western cultures (Joe Cutler's Folk Music [Daithi's Dumka] from the Ukraine, Volans' First Dance from South Africa, Gabriel Prokofiev's Bogle Move from Jamaica). Each is appealing in its own way, from the unabashed tonality of Kats-Chernin's Naïve Waltz to the gritty abstractions of Prokofiev's Bogle Move, the understated minimalism of Volans' First Dance, or the sweet elegance of Adams' Pavane. The Smith Quartet, champions of new music, plays with absolute assurance and sensitivity to the various styles and moods of the pieces. Signum's sound is clean, detailed, and present.
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